[I'm not going to do this a lot when other people send me in posts. However, seeing as it's the first time, I'd like to talk about it for a wee bit. I've been struggling with some very important life decisions recently and it all kind of boiled to a head. When I read this post, It reminded me that, regardless of my decisions, life will go on. Thanks, James!]

It is the actions of others, just as much as it is our own actions, which shape the person we are. Whether it is the friend that was there for you when you needed them most, or the person who turned their back on you, each and every experience we have is what makes us who we are. Our life is a canvas, and each of these experiences is like a brushstroke; so no matter how much rejection or insults hurt, take a step back and you’ll realise how beautiful the painting is when you change perspective. Every person we meet through life has some effect on us, some far greater and more meaningful, but they all have some effect, no matter how small. So don’t focus on the bad, because there is always good, you just have to see it.

Now I’m not always this poetic, but the message I’m trying to say here is one that I’ve been living by for years. Everyone’s going to have bad experiences; you’re going to face your share of rejection, of pain, of mistakes. And yet you can’t allow these things to beat you down, instead you have to learn from them, to become a better person from it. As well as the canvas metaphor, I also use the metaphor of our life being a road. We reach countless junctions throughout our time on this earth; some take us on a totally different path, while others only slightly change our route. So embrace your path, because you can’t go back and go a different route. The path you have, the one you’ve already walked, no matter how rocky and broken it is, it’s yours, and it’s what makes you the person you are today.

But even though I’ve been saying that it’s your actions that make you, make sure that you never slip out of control. It is you that should control your actions, lest your actions control you. Embrace every experience you can, live life to full and never let anyone say you can’t do something.

As this has been a pretty philosophical kind of speech, I’ll end with something a little more light of heart.